A contact center is staffed by agents that represent one or more entities associated with the contact center. The contact center may be part of the entity, owned by the entity, owned by a third party under contract with the entity, or in some other arrangement with the entity. The agents may provide sales support, provide technical support, facilitate a survey, or perform some other function with people outside of the contact center (e.g. customers of the entity). When a customer calls into a call center (e.g. by dialing an 800 number), a call distribution system typically routes the customer to an agent of the call center and, if necessary, will queue the customers call before it reaches the selected agent.
In many cases, partly due to the automation that a call distribution system provides to the contact center, many agents can make it through entire shifts working at the contact center without interacting with a supervisor. Thus, during those times, the supervisor has not had the chance to speak with the agent about goals for the contact center, the agent's performance in the contact center, or any other reason that a supervisor may want to speak with the agents. Conversely, the agent has not had the chance to ask the supervisor questions, air concerns that the agent may have, or any other reason that an agent may want to speak with a supervisor. This lack of communication with the agents may lead to high turn over at the contact center or otherwise inhibit the contact center agents from working to their potential.